Lowe tries to lead Braves to series win in D.C.

Baseball Betting Lines

07/29/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves shoot for a series win this afternoon when they play the rubber match of their three-game series with the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park.

A 3-0 loser in Tuesday's opener, Atlanta bounced back to even the set on Wednesday night when Chipper Jones drove in two runs and Tim Hudson was solid in 7 2/3 innings on the mound in a 3-1 triumph.

Hudson (11-5) gave up one run on seven hits to improve to 10-1 lifetime against the Nationals. He has won nine straight decisions against them since his lone loss on June 5, 2006. The right-hander also struck out seven and walked one.

Martin Prado went 3-for-5 with two runs scored for the Braves.

Mike Morse knocked in the lone run for Washington, which has lost four of five. Livan Hernandez (7-7) lasted just 4 1/3 frames in the start, allowing three runs on six hits.

The Braves hold a 3 1/2-game edge over Philadelphia in the National League's East Division, a bulge that's been trimmed significantly as of late with the Phillies' seven-game win streak.

Atlanta sends 37-year-old Derek Lowe to the mound for the starting assignment, as he tries to add on to what became his ninth career double-digit win season when he beat Milwaukee on July 18.

Lowe, who is 6-5 lifetime against the Nationals picked up one of the losses on June 29 in Atlanta when he dropped a 7-2 decision after allowing eight hits and four runs in 5 2/3 innings.

The defeat started a three-game skid that ended when Lowe allowed eight hits and three runs in 5 1/3 innings while beating the Brewers. That win was No. 10 on the season and continued a streak that began when he won 21 games for the Boston Red Sox in 2002.

For the Nationals, lefty Scott Olsen returns to the majors for his first start since May 21.

The 26-year-old Michigan native fell to 2-2 on the season with a 5-3 loss to Baltimore that night, then subsequently went on the 15-day disabled list with left shoulder tightness.

He made four rehabilitation starts in the minor leagues to prepare for his return and posted a 3.21 ERA.

Olsen is 3-5 in 14 lifetime appearances against the Braves, including a no- decision on May 6 in which he allowed two hits and one earned run in 7 1/3 innings of Washington's 3-2 win.

These teams have split eight overall meetings this year, with the Nationals winning three of the four matchups held in Washington.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.